THE LOUNGE
1. Heseg Foundation
On the roof of the Heseg Foundation building on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, a festive Purim party was held this last Thursday for hundreds of graduates and scholarship recipients. Aviv Bushinsky, the donors’ representative in Israel, welcomed the guests together with El Al CEO Eliezer Shkedi, a member of the board and a former commander of the IDF Air Force. The two presented recipients with the organization’s annual grant which is available for former lone soldiers to use towards undergraduate studies at universities and colleges in Israel.
2. Weizmann Institute
Last week at the Hilton Hotel, the Israeli Friends of the Weizmann Institute and the Israel-Switzerland & Liechtenstein Chamber of Commerce held a joint event. Weizmann Friends chairman Shimshon Harel (owner of-Israel Investments), executive director Yael Goren-Wegman, and president of the Israel-Switzerland & Liechtenstein Chamber of Commerce Gideon Hamburger (president of Harel Insurance) welcomed guests to the event.
Keynote speaker Prof. Haim Harari, an Israel Prize winner and former Weizmann president, gave a talk titled ‘Science, Education, Economics and Management in an Interdisciplinary World.’ Enjoying the evening were Ahuva and Shlomo Yanai, Pini and Pninit Cohen, Pascal and Ilana Recanati-Mento, chairman of Eldar Amir Shaltiel, Ledico CEO Ytzhak Goldman, Panorama Software founder Rony Ross and Sami and Tova Sagol.
3. US Venture Partners
Last week, American venture capital fund US Venture Partners (USVP) held a CEO conference at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa. This is the third year that USVP held its annual conference in Israel for senior officials at hi-tech companies and startups. Hosting the event were Jacques Benkoski, Dafina Toncheva, and Steve Krausz.
The conference dealt with issues connected with the development of new technology and information security markets, as well as the challenges Israeli startups face as they advance globally. Former president Shimon Peres welcomed the fund partners and Mellanox CEO Eyal Waldman offered a few tips for companies interested in issuing an IPO.
4. Habima
At Google’s annual conference, which was recently held in the Rovina Hall of Tel Aviv’s Habima Theater, Meir Brand, Google director of Israel, the Middle East, Africa, Russia, Turkey and Greece, interviewed former Cleveland Cavaliers basketball coach and Israeli sports hero David Blatt. Attending the evening were El Al CEO David Maimon, Paz Industries CEO Yona Fogel, Osem CEO Itzik Tzaig, eBay Head of Israel Business Unit Elad Goldenberg, Aleph Venture capital partner Eden Shochat, Mobileye CEO Moshe Hogeg, Bank Leumi CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, and Bank Hapoalim Deputy CEO Ari Pinto.
5. Farewell to Kron
A farewell celebration was held at the Dan Tel Aviv Hotel in honor of Alstom CEO Patrick Kron for senior energy industry officials. Attending the evening were Megalim Chairman Pini Cohen, chairman of Dalia Power Energies board Doron Set, CEO of Dalia Power Energies Eitan Meir, CityPass Chairman of the Board Avraham Shochat, main CityPass shareholder Yair Hamburger, CEO of BrightSource Israel Kreuzer, president of Alstom Israel Nissim Zvili, Israel Electric Corporation CEO Ofer Bloch, Israel Railways CEO Boaz Tzafrir, and French Ambassador to Israel Patrick Maisonnave.